How to pack for your next birding trip

November 2018

This coming Sunday I'll be off for three weeks worth of birding adventuring fun. Starting from Melbourne, I will fly to Perth, then Cocos Keeling, then Christmas Island, then back to Perth and finally home to Melbourne! That's five flights in 3 weeks and rather big number of kilometres travelled! First up, I will attempt to track down the reported vagrant Purple Heron in Carnarvon as well pick up the Western Quailthrush on the way back to Perth! Then I will spend two weeks adventuring and vagrant-hunting with Richard Baxter and his 2018 December tour group on the remote Australian territories of Cocos & Christmas Island. Fingers crossed for a healthy swagger of Asian vagrants!

As the big day draws ever closer, I have realised that it's time to pack and that I must do so very carefully. For those that have been to Cocos Keeling & Christmas Island before, you will know that it isn't overly easy to purchase a better pair of shoes, a new USB charger or a backup SD card for your camera. More so, with my travels prior to Perth and the huge variation of activities, habitats and climates to endure over the next three weeks, I need to ensure my preparation is done methodically. So that is exactly what this blog is all about!

Cocos Keeling

Christmas Island

Ok so first up (and most importantly) let's talk equipment! Obviously it's a birding trip so I'm going to need my binoculars foremost. As I'm flying with them I'll be taking them in their case also with a little cleaning cloth as I found myself wiping and cleaning them a lot of my last visit to CK/XMAS. As I also plan to spend sometime searching for rare waders (such as my still needed Common Redshank) on Cocos as well as scoping the seabirds on Christmas (in hopes for a Red-billed Tropicbird), I will need my scope and a tripod. Next, I need my spotlight, spotlight charger, spare batteries and handheld speaker for when I spend nights searching for vagrants nocturnal species. Last time I was extremely lucky finding both a Savannah and Grey Nightjar or different nights. This time I'll be hoping to find an Oriental Scops Owl or Northern Boobook, but I'm not holding my breath. And finally, I require my camera, lens, cleaning cloth, spare camera battery, camera casing, and 2x SD cards (always good to have a spare). And of course, I have a checklist printed out and ready to go with a pen to accompany it. All in all, that's a fair whack of equipment!

To me, the above is the obvious stuff, though I will also be taking a handheld radio which is extremely useful on Cocos Keeling to stay in contact with the group, particularly as there is no phone service and you spread across West Island. I will also bring a charger for this. Given that the trip is targeting vagrants, I will be taking "A Guide to the Birds of Southeast Asia" by Craig Robson. This book came in extraordinary value on the previous trip and seems to be the go-to literature for Australian twitchers exploring these offshore territories. I will however not be taking an Australian field guide. As much as I would love to bring along my Australian Bird Guide, it's just too big and realistically will not get much use on the trip. However, before placing it back on the bookshelf, I scan all the pages of possible vagrants and species I may want access to whilst away, just to be safe!

Finally, my general electronic equipment includes my laptop and case (so I can do some work whilst away, upload photos and write blog posts), my iPad (same reason as above), their appropriate chargers, my iPhone and a new Telstra simcard, so that I may use my phone whilst on Christmas Island which does have Telstra reception (I'm normally an Optus client). I also have earphones rather than headphones. Two reasons for this. One headphones are larger and I don't want to risk taking them to Cocos/Xmas. Secondly, in my experience there is a lot of sitting and waiting for hours and hours on end particularly at the Big House on Cocos, a bit of quiet music in only a single ear may help pass the time between unidentified flycatchers.

Gear & Equipment

Clothing

​Next is the least fun part, the clothes. On past trips, I have realised that I over pack clothing, and in these tropical locations especially, I always enormously regret it. This time I'm cutting right back and packing smart (at least I hope so anyway). I'm taking only 4 t-shirts and 2 pairs of shorts, and 1 pair of board shorts. No long pants, no jumpers and no raincoats. I've also packed a soft full brim hat which rolls up and a pair of cheap sunglasses (not risking the Ray-Bans). Shoes wise I'm only taking a pair of sandals and a pair of runners. I've got 6 pairs of white socks and handful of underwear. Piece of advice for first time visitors, wear socks with your sandals irrelevant of the fashion crime that it is. Your feet will fry otherwise. I'm also not taking my watch as it's basically pointless on the long never-ending summer days of Cocos in particular. If I ever need to check the time I'll have both my phone and camera. If I happen to dirty any clothes there are washing facilities on both Cocos and Christmas. From memory, on the previous trip, I only utilised these once. And finally, I'm taking deodorant, toothpaste, toothbrush, sunscreen and mosquito repellent, all of which are in small travel versions that I picked up for a couple of bucks at the shops.

Lastly, the bits and pieces such as passport and cash for meals (hard to get money out whilst on Cocos/Xmas).

A lot of the above probably seems very obvious to all you clever readers, but I've tried to put a lot of thought into it. I really only want the bare essentials, nothing more and to travel as light as possible, even with all that extra gear (such as the tripod and scope). I'll be packing it all into a small travel luggage and then a waterproof backpack.

Have I forgotten anything? (probably). Let me know in the comments below...please! Flying on this Sunday night! Can't wait, so stay tuned!

James Mustafa is a birder, wildlife enthusiast and self-confessed twitcher from Melbourne, Australia. A musician and composer by trade, he has been birding, exploring nature and appreciate wildlife for all his life. Since taking up a real fascination with birds, he has soared with tropicbirds in the Indian Ocean, chased owls in North America, danced with kiwi in New Zealand and twitched everything from gulls to leaf warblers across Australia.